Eleven days they had the full use
of Bantry Bay, and at length their fleet returns from their harbor of
Bantry to their harbor of Brest. Whilst you are invoking the propitious
spirit of Regicide equity and conciliation, they answer you with an
attack. They turn out the pacific bearer of your "how do you dos," Lord
Malmesbury; and they return your visit, and their "thanks for your
obliging inquiries," by their old practised assassin, Hoche. They come
to attack--what? A town, a fort, a naval station? They come to attack
your king, your Constitution, and the very being of that Parliament
which was holding out to them these pledges, together with the
entireness of the empire, the laws, liberties, and properties of all the
people. We know that they meditated the very same invasion, and for the
very same purposes, upon this kingdom, and, had the coast been as
opportune, would have effected it.
Whilst _you_ are in vain torturing your invention to assure them of
_your_ sincerity and good faith, they have left no doubt concerning
_their_ good faith and _their_ sincerity towards those to whom they have
engaged their honor. To their power they have been true to the only
pledge they have ever yet given to you, or to any of yours: I mean the
solemn engagement which they entered into with the deputation of
traitors who appeared at their bar, from England and from Ireland, in
1792. They have been true and faithful to the engagement which they had
made more largely,--that is, their engagement to give effectual aid to
insurrection and treason, wherever they might appear in the world.
Pages:
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439